A phone call to the newly sworn in Uttarakhand minister Prakash Pant helped save a woman who was being allegedly harassed by four men including staff persons at the Directorate of Information here. Police said a couple from Pithoragarh had come to the Directorate of Information office here on Sunday to appear in connection with the hearing of an RTI case yesterday.

They arrived late on Sunday night and two members of staff on duty at the Directorate office advised them to spend the night there itself.

When the couple agreed, the two members of the staff invited two more friends to their office and together they allegedly started making indecent advances to the woman after dinner at around 11 PM.

When the woman resisted they beat up the couple. However, the husband managed to call the MLA from Pithoragar and apprise him with the situation. Acting promptly, Pant called up SSP Sweety Aggarwal and asked her to rescue the couple.

The SSP immediately sent a team to the information office and all the four persons were arrested.They were sent to jail on Monday. They have been identified as Jagmohan Singh Chauhan, Anil Rawat, Jagdish Singh and Hari Singh Petwal, Raipur police station in-charge Pradeep Singh Rana said.

A case has been lodged against them under section 354 (A) of the IPC, he said. Chauhan, Rawat and Petwal are Information department employees while Jagdish sells tea outside the Information Directorate office, the SHO said. When contacted, Pant said immediate action by the police prevented an ugly incident. Asked how he could pick up his phone at so late an hour, he said he always tries to be available on the phone.